AI that thinks on a canvas

Your whole idea.On one canvas.

Start with a scribble. AI lays out the whole app — every screen, model, and flow — as a map you can see.

A chat gives you a thread to scroll. ThinkCanvas gives you the whole picture — built live with AI, in the messy, hand-drawn way you actually think.

Brainstorm → BlueprintWatch it thinkMCP-native
See the problem first ↓

No credit card · Works with Claude & any MCP agent

The problem

Your best thinking is trapped in a scroll.

AI chat is brilliant — until you need the whole plan back. Then it's 200 messages you have to re-read.

💬 AI chat linear
design a task app with auth
Sure — we'll need a login screen, a task list, and a data model…
what about the onboarding?
Good call. Add a 3-step onboarding after signup…
wait, how does billing connect to auth again?
Billing reads the user id from the session, which comes from…
…and the settings page?
Settings hangs off the dashboard; it also touches the user model…
can you recap the whole thing?
Of course. So far we have: auth (login + session), onboarding…
i've lost the plan 😩
To find the auth flow you scroll, re-read, and lose the thread. The picture only ever lives in your head.
🗺️ ThinkCanvas spatial
The same plan, as a map. Every flow is a node you can see, connect, and jump to — no scrolling.
The solution · live

Watch it design the whole app.

Drag the finished map to explore it — or hit replay and watch the AI build the whole blueprint, node by node.

AI-note-takingMake your own
ingestreadyon demandsplit intopassagesvectorizeeach chunkindex forsearchquery-timeside-by-sidefeedscontextpowerszoom into "AIAssistant"zoom into reading UXassistant lives in the right panelREST /WebSocketorchestratesauth + dataparse uploadsvectorizestoreprompt with contextRAGretrievalzoom into clientzoom into backend
AI Note-Taking App — Core Flow
flow →
Upload PDF
Understand
AI understands the doc
Read with AI
An assistant at your side
AI Assistant
AI Assistant Functions
mindmap
Ask the AI
Summarize
Sections or the whole doc
Explain
Complex passages in plain language
Ask questions
Specific answers about the content
Connect ideas
Cross-reference across pages
Extract takeaways
Definitions and action items
How AI Understands a PDF
flow ↓
PDF file
Chunking engine
Embedding model
Vector store
RAG retrieval
Chunking strategy
Overlap chunks; anchor page and heading
Split-Panel Reading Experience
flow →
PDF reader
Highlight text
Ask about a specific passage
Context-aware AI
Sees what you are reading
AI chat
AI Note-Taking App — Architecture & Experience
flow ↓
Tech Stack — Three Tiers
flow ↓
iPad Client
API Layer
AI Pipeline
iPad Client — The Fork
tree ↓
Choose a client
Two viable paths
Next.js + Tailwind
Responsive web, Safari and PWA
SwiftUI native
PDF performance and Apple Pencil
React Native
Shared code; difficult PDF rendering
Start with PWA
Go native for PDF or Pencil bottlenecks
Backend Stack
flow →
FastAPI
Python API layer
Supabase
Parse PDF
PyMuPDF / Unstructured.io
Embed text
OpenAI text-embedding-3-small
pgvector
In Supabase
Answer questions
Claude / GPT-4o
Offline matters
Local embeddings + SQLite for a PWA
Tech Stack for AI Note-Taking App (iPad-first)
flow ↓
📝Second Brain — Business Plan (July 2026).md24 KB

Replay it to watch the thinking happen. On your own board, this is your idea becoming your app.

Why a canvas

Scan, don't read.

Reading is linear. Seeing is instant. A canvas hands you the whole system at a glance — so you spot what matters and move.

See the whole system at once

Every screen, model, and dependency on one surface — not paged out across a transcript.

Jump anywhere, no scrolling

Click a node to go straight to it. Your plan is a place you navigate, not a wall you re-read.

Spatial memory beats a log

You remember where things are. A map sticks; message #147 does not.

Agent-native

Built for your agents.

ThinkCanvas speaks MCP — your agent designs on the same board you do.

Point Claude at your canvas. It reads and writes it directly.

No copy-paste, no screenshots. Connect ThinkCanvas over MCP and your agent adds nodes, draws edges, and maps out your app on the real board — then you take over on the same surface.

Claude-nativeMCP read + writeYour board = your agent’s board

Agent access is currently in private beta — sign up and we’ll switch it on for your account as we open it up.

Set up agent access →

Coming from another canvas? See how ThinkCanvas compares to Miro and Excalidraw →

Pricing

Start free. Upgrade when it clicks.

MonthlyYearly save ~17%
Free
$0/mo
For trying the canvas.
For trying the canvas and small ideas.
  • Up to 3 boards
  • AI brainstorm → graph
  • Watch it think replays
  • All layout types
Get started
Most popular
Starter
$12.99/mo
Billed monthly · 14-day trial
For builders designing real apps.
  • Unlimited boards
  • Bring your own agent (MCP) — private beta
  • Priority AI + doc / image generation
  • Share links + replays
Start 14-day trial
Team
Let's talk
On the roadmap.
For teams designing together.
  • Everything in Starter
  • Shared team boards
  • Real-time collaboration
  • SSO + admin
Talk to us